A short history for people just tuning in.
I belong to the RPG Bloggers Network. A couple weeks ago, the guys that run the network announced that they were stepping down for a variety of reasons. Chaos ensued [citation neded] and there was a followup announcement that they would accept proposals for a hand-off of the network to someone else.
That same day, I quietly put together and submitted my own proposal. Then came a couple weeks of waiting. I tried to lay low, not bugging the guys in charge because I knew they had their hands full. But I was also a little antsy. In the end, my proposal was accepted, and I will be taking over the RPGBN.
I’m sure you all have a number of questions. I will try to address some of them now, and more in the coming days.
What does this mean in the short term? Short term in this case means no less than 30 days. What’s going to happen in the coming month or so?
- A period of transition. We are working on an assets transfer, so that I can get the site up and running on my own server and determine resource needs. The desired goal is to complete the transfer with little to no downtime, but I’d ask that you be patient during the transition. We are working together to minimize any disruption.
- The admission process will reopen after the transfer. Once the assets transfer has been completed, and the site is running on my own server, I will reopen the admission process. I do not have an ETA for this, but know that we’re trying to get this completed as quickly as possible.
- No immediate drastic changes. Nothing visible is going to change drastically right away. The first changes to be made will be to address some resource consumption issues, and they will be transparent to everyone else.
- The formation of an advisory board. I will be forming a four person advisory board. My goal is to select people who will bring balanced viewpoints to the table. I will ask this board for advice when making decisions about the RPGBN. @DaveTheGame is one of these advisers. I will select two others, and one more will be selected by the community. This will take place on the google group in the coming days.
What does this mean in the long term? The long term in this case means anything that’s at least 30 days out.
- Yes, there will be changes. I do not believe the RPGBN in its current incarnation is sustainable long term. Indeed, the current owners wouldn’t be stepping down if the network was easily sustainable in its current form. The current approach works great when there’s 5-20 blogs in the network, but it’s less practical as the number of blogs increases – the signal-to-noise is just too challenging. The changes I have in mind are designed to specifically address this problem.
- Site redesign. There will be a a site redesign. This will be necessitated by the changes. It will be done by someone who is better at visual things than I am.
- No plans for ads, fees, or otherwise monetizing the RPGBN. I do not have any plans at this time for ads or anything like that. I can conceive of a scenario where network members may want to rotate ads for their newest releases, and if there’s a useful way in which to do this, then it will be implemented. But beyond that I can’t see much gain from trying out ads and such. A little coin to help offset hosting costs might be nice once in a while, but if I get needy in that area I’ll just come out and ask.
What was in the proposal? The short version is, community driven meritocratic noise filters, allowing for people to filter noise on their own, possibly having the community filter new members, some better blog-to-rpgbn site integration, and a desire to keep track of hot topics throughout the RPGBN and other media programmatically.
Is there a reason you don’t just post the whole proposal for all of us to read? Yes. I want to review it with the advisory board and run some proof-of-concepts first, and change it from a proposal to a roadmap. This way there’s not a lot of idle talk about ideas that are not fully formed.
I have an idea. How do I communicate it? I welcome any input. Feel free to contact me directly with your ideas. I may not use them, but I will listen.
That should cover the basic questions. Feel free to respond if you have pressing questions that have not been addressed. Update: You can respond in the comments below, at the RPGBloggers Google Group, or
In conclusion, The RPGBN has been good to us. It will continue to be good to us. Many of us rely on traffic generated from the RPGBN to get some additional exposure. The RPGBN will continue to be a valuable tool for members, regardless of their renown, who are trying to get their content out there.
23 Comments | RSS |
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I’m still not entirely pleased with the fact that the old board is stepping down, but, although I only barely internet-know you, I like you and I think that you’ll do good by the RPGBN.
Best of luck!
Comment by Aaron
— November 1, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
I wish you good luck. I’m one of those members that relies on the RPGBN for traffic and would’ve hated to see it disappear or become something of an RPGBN in-name-only.
If you need any type of support, I’m an email away.
Comment by newbiedm
— November 1, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
Wait, hold the phone… Does this mean no more chaos? And right when I was getting used to it…
But seriously, congrats
Comment by Spenser
— November 1, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Grats man! A meritocracy sounds awesome and hey 1/4 of the original board is still here. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for the new site design, exciting news!
Comment by kaeosdad
— November 1, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
“Feel free to contact me directly” – One suggestion: add a contact form or a “contact us” email address somewhere prominent please. I see the webmaster link at the bottom, but it’s a little hard to spot and I usually do a text search for “contact” in order to find contact info.
Comment by Micah
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Congratulations! I could not be happier!
Comment by Berin Kinsman
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Congratulations. The Dungeon’s Master team looks forward to the new and improved incarnation of the RPG Bloggers Network. The RPGBN has been good to us and even though the wizard behind the curtain is changing, we’ll do whatever we can to return the favour in the coming months. If there’s anything specific you think we can do to help. Please send me (or Wimwick) an email. Good luck!
Comment by Ameron
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
A valid comment Micah. I added one to this post, and I will add one to the sidebar as well.
Comment by Duane
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
You are a crazy person!
Comment by Will Robot
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
Yes. Yes I am.
Comment by Duane
— November 1, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
I’m new here but Good luck! sounds like you’ll need it
Comment by Misterecho
— November 1, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
Congratulations! I like your ideas and think you’re an excellent choice for the new owner/admin of the RPGBN. Good luck.
Comment by John L. Williams
— November 1, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Good luck! And let us know how we can help.
Comment by Sean Holland
— November 1, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
Awesome! Although I am not a blogger myself I have found this resource to be useful in discovering new RPGs and expanding my once narrow view of what an RPG was. Simply put, I’ve started buying and playing a ton of RPGs I’d never heard of because of this resource. Thank you for picking up the tourch!!!
Comment by Wothbora
— November 1, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
I, for one, welcome our new RPGBN Overlords. Gratz dude.
I have one question: are we heading towards a cull of members as part of section one of your priorities?
Comment by Hammer
— November 2, 2009 @ 3:32 am
Can’t wait to see changes to RPGBN! On to bigger and better things!
Comment by wrathofzombie
— November 2, 2009 @ 5:15 am
First, congratulations!
Second, are you sure you know what you’re getting into?
Third, I applied for membership about… 6 weeks ago. Right before the kerfuffle. Should I plan on reapplying? Or is my application still pending, but on hold?
Comment by David
— November 2, 2009 @ 5:25 am
Ah, the dark horse takes it. I’ll be interested to see where the RPGBN goes from here. I’m certainly glad it’s not folding up.
Comment by Tyler
— November 2, 2009 @ 7:57 am
[...] understand. Duane is relatively new on the scene, but you may be familiar with his work. His site, A Terrible Idea, used to go by the name Chaotic Neutral Network. He’s the voice of Friend Computer on the [...]
Pingback by Community: Meet the New RPG Bloggers Network | Berin Kinsman’s Uncle Bear Blog — November 2, 2009 @ 8:17 am
I’ll respond to several comments at once.
“I have one question: are we heading towards a cull of members as part of section one of your priorities?” As part of section one? No. Section one of my priorities is to get the network assets transferred to my own server, get the advisory board together, and reopen admission. Part of the assets transfer includes a list of collected suggestions that the old group will be handing over. Until all this is done, I can’t make a determination about a membership cull. However, I will be looking to establish some guidelines for continued network participation specifically geared toward removing blogs that have gone dark. This is something I would be looking to accomplish before the site redesign went live. After I’ve had a chance to look things over, if a membership cull makes sense, then there will be a cull.
“Second, are you sure you know what you’re getting into?” I’m sure it will be simultaneously much better, and much worse than I expect.
“Third, I applied for membership about… 6 weeks ago. Right before the kerfuffle. Should I plan on reapplying? Or is my application still pending, but on hold?” We’re still in the middle of the handoff, so I can’t answer that easily. What I will say is that before I reopen the application process, I will process any outstanding applications. If the application process reopens and you haven’t heard from me, don’t take it personal. Ping me, remind me about your submission, and if I can’t find it I will ask you to reapply.
Comment by Duane
— November 2, 2009 @ 10:56 am
Congratulations, Duane! The powers that were have spoken and now you are in charge of the RPGBN. And I don’t think running the show will be an easy task, but when Dave, Phil, Graham and Danny think, you can handle it, than I am sure you’ll do a great job. If you need any help or advice, please let me know.
By the way, what are your plans for the RPGBN forums?
Comment by Stargazer
— November 2, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
“By the way, what are your plans for the RPGBN forums?”
It’s early days yet and I haven’t made a determination. Once the asset transfer has been completed I’ll take a look at everything, review with the advisory board, and make a decision from there.
Comment by Duane
— November 2, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
I guess my main concern is what are the requirements for admission now. And the community filter. My suggestion is to save it for obivous spams and advertisemens. Anyway kudos for taking over the mantle. It is a huge responsbility!
Comment by extrakun
— November 4, 2009 @ 1:57 am